Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson said he is effectively ending his bid for the White House Wednesday, concluding a roller-coaster campaign that briefly took him to the top of a chaotic GOP field but ended with a Super Tuesday whimper.
“I do not see a political path forward,” Carson said in a statement posted on his campaign website, though he added, “I remain deeply committed to my home nation, America” and promised to offer details of his future when he speaks Friday at a conservative conference in Washington.
He did not explicitly say that he’s ending his campaign, only noting that he does not plan to take part in Thursday’s Fox News debate. But his longtime businessman and friend, Armstrong Williams, confirmed that the soft-spoken candidate would no longer be asking for votes.
“There’s only one candidate in this 2016 election on the GOP side, and his name is Trump. That’s the reality,” Williams said, adding that Sens. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz also should drop out, as they “also have no path” to the nomination.
Carson’s exit reduces the active Republican field to four candidates, though billionaire Donald Trump remains the clear leader in earned delegates and voter preference polls.
Carson, 64, was one of several anti-establishment candidates who shaped the early stages of a Republican race defined by conservatives’ wide-ranging disgust with the nation’s direction and GOP leaders’ perceived inability to alter it.
He ran as an outsider, offering a poverty-to-fame autobiography, his unabashed Christian faith and an unceasing indictment of conventional politics, styling his bid as an effort to combat “political correctness” and what he described as a creep toward “socialism.”
That formula fueled a steady climb in the polls and a powerful fundraising effort. But his success also brought intense scrutiny. Carson lashed out publicly at questions about his life story, having to explain anecdotes like his claim to have been offered a “scholarship” to West Point. He made foreign policy flubs, from a mistaken suggestion that China is militarily involved in Syria’s civil war, to a high profile speech in which he repeatedly mispronounced the name of the Palestinian political and military organization Hamas.
And he endured public sniping among some of his closest advisers, some of whom contributed to questions about his overall fitness for the job.
The only African-American among the presidential contenders of either major party, Carson announced his bid in May from his native Detroit, where he was raised in a poor neighborhood by a single mother. Though she could not read, Carson said, his mother saw to it that he and his brother received formal educations.
Carson attended Yale University and the University of Michigan Medical School. He earned national acclaim during 29 years leading the pediatric neurosurgery unit of Johns Hopkins Children’s Center in Baltimore. He directed the first surgery to separate twins connected at the back of the head. His career was notable enough to inspire the 2009 movie, “Gifted Hands,” with actor Cuba Gooding Jr. depicting Carson.
He rose to political prominence with his address at the 2013 National Prayer Breakfast, where he offered a withering critique of the modern welfare state and the nation’s overall direction. The speech restated themes from Carson’s 2012 book “America the Beautiful,” but he excited conservatives by doing so with President Barack Obama sitting just feet away.
He would often tell voters that he viewed his candidacy as a way to honor the American founders’ view of the “citizen-statesman.”
“If I am successful in this endeavor,” he said Dec. 8 in Georgia, “then a lot of other people who are not career politicians but who are very smart will start thinking, maybe I can do that, too, and we will expand the pool from which we selected our leadership.”
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
Hopefully, Trump will appoint him as Surgeon General.
I agree with you. He would be perfect. He is honest. A man of integrity. Very rare these days.
Yes, the next surgeon general. If Trump is president , it would be just the first of an all star line up!!
Trump would have to be president to do that, and it is looking more and more like the truth about his lies to the people are being reveiled.
He is both brilliant and well spoken. He would be a great asset to any Administration, regardless of Party.
If in fact Trump does win I feel he will ask Dr.Carson to join his Administration in some capacity ..
Our political process has degenerated to 3 word sound bites. Integrity Policy and Sound Judgement is no longer important in our fast paced world. We may lose our Christ based Constitution that was founded by We the People. We do not have time to be concerned with right from wrong, nor are we willing to stand against political correctness.
Good Luck to you Ben Carson 🙂
You have lots of good ideas but America really needs a CEO like Donald Trump our Government has let us down .
This Election will make History . Not just for another President but For Our Country’s Future .
I hope & Pray you stand by Mr Trump in this fight with the Devil .
I am old enough to remember the rhetoric of Hitler in the early 30’s when he sought to restore Germany to its former glory prior to WW1. Sorry to say, Trump sounds exactly like him and we know how that turned out!
Many Germans thought they needed a man like Adolph Trump as THEIR leader. Many lived to regret their believing the rhetoric of the German Trump. I say the dictator Trump is not one who would help this nation at all. Have we learned nothing from observing how the dictator Obama has “helped” the U.S.A.?
Carson would been the best. The anti christian establishment would not allow itl
i would have voted for him even if it would been a lost vote.
I’m hoping that later this week BEN CARSON will urge his supporters to vote for TED CRUZ. I think that’s our best chance to avoid having a dictator replace the dictator in the White House. As a patriot, I could not with a clear conscience vote for Donald Trump. Surely everyone who lived through World War 2 will recognize that Trump is a second Adolph Hitler.
I have been coming to that conclusion too!
Dr Carson, you where my hero the morning of the 2013 breakfast, and still are. As you can see they do not want Mr Trump because they are not backing him, so he can not be told what to do. Please stand by him, he will need help of good people like you.
How wants a other puppet in the office, look what this one has don to the country, that I came to at 14 as a immigrant [Detroit] your town.
This country needs people like you.
When he announced his candidacy I had high hopes for Dr. Carson. His life story is inspirational. Unfortunately he entered a crowded candidate field which came to be dominated by another political newcomer who has a natural ability to soak up the media’s attention.
I think Dr. Carson is a man of integrity but some of his interview responses showed that he was a political novice. In a different election year his chances might have been better.
My daddy taught me that empty barrels make most noise
Ben Carson was able to attract listeners of all ages..from new voters to seasoned voters ..he truly was shunned by the media from day one..rarely included in debate questions..the media zeroed in on 3 candidates and guess whose still standing..I would still vote for Ben Carson based on “the man that he is”..
I am truly sorry to see Ben Carson drop out. But since the majority of Americans are so stupid, (40% still think Nobama has/is doing a good job). He never had a chance. Just about everything Trump has suggested, Ben Carson either agreed with, or SAID it FIRST. I’ve voted in every election since 1964, and Ben Carson is the truly first person I would have voted for because he was the BEST CHOICE, NOT the lesser of two evils. As it has been in ALL of the previous elections.
He never got a fair chance to talk about his solutions to fix America because the Media is more interested in the excitement of arguments between candidates then they are about what it is the candidates are going to do to fix America’s problems.
Even Fox News programs.
And tout “We need to elect someone that can beat Hillabeast”. Instead of we need to elect someone with the best solutions to fix Americas problems. If he was given more TV air time to discuss his solutions, then it would have been a different outcome.
Ben Carson is the ONLY candidate that I have ever donated money to his campaign, that’s how strongly I believe in him.
Ben is too polite a person, to be bickering in the election, probably his real downfall.
I agree wholeheartedly.
I am sorry to see Ben drop out. God is in control and could work miracles. We so need someone that loves his country and wants to make it a better place for the people. We need a non politician who is more interested in the good of the country than his pocket book. Since the vote of the west coast means nothing anyway I will write in Ben Carson for president. Imagine what it would do if millions wrote him in. Hopefully Hillary will be sent to prison before this election gets to the polls. This country is doomed if Hilary gets in. She will finish destroying our military which in turn will destroy military the rest of the way from what Obama has already done . The US will be a sitting duck for all countries to attack. God have Mercy on us!
Ben Carson is a man who well remembers what our founding fathers gave their lives to define and protect but he refuses to succumb to personal attacks or vindictive rhetoric on his opponents He knows many of the solutions to our problems but due to the years of dumming down of American education most voters are unable to comprehend the wisdom of this soft spoken man. May God forgive us for missing this precious gift.
Excellent words, Edith. Your last statement in particular.
Amen to all you said!
I agree with Edith West,and a host of other people that gave their thoughts.
God Bless you Dr Carson.
I really hate the debates. The news should not be able to ask the questions. It should be the public. And every candidate should be allowed to answer each question if their name was mentioned or not. The news locked him out. I think Mr Trump would do well to have Mr Carson at his side. He could be a balance in Mr Trumps Presidency. I had hoped and prayed people would think for themselves and not let the News decide for them. Thank you Mr Carson for your courage, patriotism and faith. God Bless you and your family.
If he’s in a cabinet position it needs to be sect Health and Human Services, and dotted line to Surgeon General and public Health Dept. We need to fix welfare, nutrition, education, and attitudes of welfare recipients ( able bodied ones).
This is demoralizing at best that a crook like Hillary will get in. Maybe he should just switch parties?
I really like Ben Carson but not as president. He would make a great surgeon general something in that capacity.
I really admire Ben Carson for his honesty as well as his integrity. Hopefully, whoever wins will find a place for him in their administration. He would definately be an asset. (Surgeon General??, or even V.P.)
Unfortunately, Obummer has tainted the Black race (well, Malatto anyway) by his substandard performance, arrogant attitude, racist viewpoints and socialist agenda for a long, long, long, long time into the future. America now has their own Idi Amin.
When history writes Obama’s legacy as president, (small ‘P’ intended) rest assured his dismal record will be dismissed by both he and Moochelle as ‘Racism in America’.
My daddy taught me that empty barrels make the most noise